Ohr Jackson

"Hm? Why did I suddenly feel so heavy?"

In his sleep, Shirakawa felt so weighed down that he could barely breathe. He groggily opened his eyes and found Shanks and Buggy lying on top of him, sleeping soundly.

"These two actually used me as a pillow."

Shirakawa was speechless. Without ceremony, he moved both their heads onto the ground, but neither of them showed any sign of waking up.

"Are they pigs?" Shirakawa cursed the two of them under his breath.

Originally, only he and Shanks had been drinking together yesterday, but Buggy had shown up at some point as well. The three drunkenly messed around together, and even the bad blood between Shirakawa and Buggy had been vented during last night's horseplay.

But whenever Shirakawa recalled what had happened last night, he could barely stand to look back on it. Had that really been him drinking last night? He had probably drunk nearly as much as he had in his entire previous life combined.

"Have I become a better drinker? No, it was just impossible to refuse Shanks's enthusiasm."

Whenever he did not want to drink, Shanks would either hold a full cup right up to his mouth or force it down his throat.

"I never thought twelve- or thirteen-year-olds in this world could drink this much."

Still, it also made Shirakawa realize that his ability was not absolutely unchanging. For example, last night, he really had gotten drunk—so drunk that he had passed out completely.

"It seems I still have a long way to go before I truly understand this unchanging ability."

After finding an empty place to relieve himself, Shirakawa discovered that most of the Roger Pirates had yet to wake up.

If another pirate crew attacked now, Shirakawa would genuinely wonder whether they might all be wiped out.

"Yo, rookie. You're up pretty early. How was last night? Have fun?"

When Shirakawa returned, a pirate he did not recognize greeted him.

"Very much." Although he did not know the man, Shirakawa politely replied since the other party had greeted him.

"That's good. After all, there'll be plenty more days like this in the future." The pirate laughed heartily.

"Oh, right. Want to have breakfast with us? If you wait for them, you won't be eating until at least noon."

"Sure."

Shirakawa agreed without a second thought. Though he was not hungry, eating breakfast together was also an opportunity to build relationships and help him integrate into the pirate crew faster.

By noon, the Crewmates of the Roger Pirates gradually woke up one after another.

Roger stood atop a large rock.

"Our journey is about to continue. Are you ready?"

"We're ready!" The Crewmates below cheered. Though days spent holding banquets like this were great, they were pirates and preferred adventures on the Grand Line. Besides, it was not as though they could not hold banquets aboard the ship.

"Then let's get ready to board."

The group marched grandly toward the shore.

"So this is the Orl Jackson. As expected of the Pirate King's ship—it really is magnificent."

Shirakawa thought to himself.

"How is it? Our ship's great, right?"

Shanks patted Shirakawa on the back from behind. His tone was filled with pride, as though the ship belonged to him.

"Yeah. It's my first time seeing such an impressive ship."

"Of course. It may not be as big as Whitebeard's Moby Dick, but in terms of cost, it doesn't lose to any pirate crew's ship."

Then everyone boarded the ship.

Shirakawa, who was boarding a ship for the first time, was incredibly excited. This was his first time ever riding a ship; he had not even ridden one in his previous life.

After familiarizing himself with the ship, Shirakawa stuck with Shanks. On this ship, Shanks seemed to be the person he got along with best.

Or perhaps the others looked down on his strength and could not be bothered with him.

"Hey, Shanks, hurry up and find me a mirror. I want to see what I actually look like."

"Ah, I forgot because you didn't mention it. I was wondering why you'd been following me the whole time."

Hearing that, Shirakawa was covered in black lines. Was his request really that insignificant?

"Come with me. Let's check the storage room and find one for you."

The ship was full of men, and no one had the habit of looking in mirrors, so useless items were generally piled up in the storage room.

They arrived at the door of a room below deck, where two large characters reading "Storage Room" were written on it.

When they opened the storage room door, the first things they saw were gold, silver, and treasures, along with dozens of swords.

"You keep valuable things here without even locking it? Aren't you afraid someone might steal them?"

"Steal them? Why would anyone steal them? We don't need this stuff."

"Uh, that's true. You're pirates. If you want something, you can just take it."

"Still, I remember Buggy seems to like this stuff. You can often see him covering himself up tightly, sneaking into the storage room, then coming out looking a whole size fatter. After that, he sneaks back into his room, and when he comes out again, he's back to his original size."

"Does anyone besides you know about that?" Shirakawa asked cautiously.

"Of course. Other than Buggy himself, everyone on the ship seemed to know."

Hearing that, Shirakawa froze for a moment. No wonder people would later call him Buggy the Clown. Not only did he look like a clown, he acted like one too.

"We've all told Buggy that he could take whatever he wanted. No idea why, but he likes the thrill of sneaking around. Maybe he got addicted to it."

Shanks spread his hands, speaking with an innocent look.

After searching for quite a while, they finally found the mirror Shirakawa wanted. The warehouse was simply too messy, so finding any particular item was indeed difficult.

"Is this really me?"

Seeing himself in the mirror, Shirakawa was a little stunned.

He could still make out some traits from his previous life in that face. It could be said that this face had evolved from his old one, except for a few subtle changes.

He had become more handsome, and his features looked exceptionally gentle. If he claimed to be a pirate now, absolutely no one would believe him.

"Had your fill? If you're done looking, let's head out."

"Huh? Oh, okay." Shirakawa still had not fully recovered. He simply could not believe that the handsome guy in the mirror was himself. But since it had already happened, there was nothing he could do to change it.

"Sure enough, if I hadn't had acne in my previous life, I would've been a very handsome guy too."

Shirakawa smiled confidently. Now that he knew what he looked like, one of the weights in his heart was finally lifted.

Before leaving, Shirakawa also took a Katana from the warehouse for self-defense.

"Oh, right. When are we going to train with the First Mate?"

"If you want to train, you can do it anytime."

"Really? That's great. Then let's go train right now."

"Sure. We've rested for two or three days already. My body's practically rusting."